The party faces several hurdles, including a lawsuit alleging that voting by computer would discriminate against minorities and the poor. It also has yet to receive federal approval of its March 11 primary or support from all three state universities, which have about 100,000 potential student voters with generally easy access to computers.

"I was a little disappointed with the universities. I thought they would jump on this because of the opportunity to attract young voters," state Party Chairman Mark Fleisher said.

While one university has agreed to participate, another rejected the request because the event is partisan. The third campus had not decided by Monday.

Arizona Democrats are running their own primary because the Democratic National Committee prohibits them from participating in the Feb. 22 state-run election being used by state Republicans.

Democrats plan to set up about 100 polling places where voters may either fill out traditional paper ballots or use a computer terminal to vote online. Voters also have the option of casting votes early by logging on to the party's Web site from March 7-10.

The Voting Integrity Project filed a federal lawsuit last month to stop the election, arguing it would hurt poor and minority voters who might lack computer access.

"We think Internet voting is the future, but we want it to be fair," said Tim Casey, an attorney for the Virginia-based group.

A three-judge panel in U.S. District Court is scheduled to hear the case Feb. 29.

State Democrats also need approval from the U.S. Justice Department before the Internet election can take place. Arizona is one of 16 states required to get federal approval on any changes in election rules because of past violations of the Voting Rights Act.

A meeting last Friday between Justice Department officials and Arizona Democratic representatives went "very well," Fleisher said.

"We anticipate getting clearance before the end of the month," he said.